The Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature is for literature about the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. The award was planned in 1982 and first issued the next year by the New York Commandery of the

Naval Order of the United States The Naval Order of the United States was established in 1890 as a hereditary organization in the United States for members of the American sea services. Its primary mission is to encourage research and writing on naval and maritime subjects and p ...

, who administers and chooses the winner which is a significant book on naval history from the prior year. The prize is named for Rear Admiral

Samuel Eliot Morison Samuel Eliot Morison (July 9, 1887 – May 15, 1976) was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history and American history that were both authoritative and popular. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and tau ...

, a military historian.

Awardees

Sources: Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature * 1983

, honorary on launch of new award * 1984 Victor H. Krulak, ''First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps'' * 1987 Ivan Musicant, ''Battleship at War: The Epic Story of the USS Washington'' * 1988 Michael A. Palmer, ''Stoddert's War: Naval Operations during the Quasi-war with France, 1798-1801'' * 1989

John F. Lehman John Francis Lehman Jr. (born September 14, 1942) is an American private equity investor and writer who was secretary of the Navy (1981–1987) during the Reagan administration in which he promoted the creation of a 600-ship navy. Lehman is o ...

, ''Command of the Seas: Building the 600 Ship Navy'' * 1992 Clark G. Reynolds, ''Admiral John H. Towers: The Struggle for Naval Air Supremacy'' * 1993 Eugene B. Fluckey, ''Thunder Below!: The USS Barb Revolutionizes Submarine Warfare in World War II'' * 1995 John B. Lundstrom, ''The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942'' * 1997 Joseph H. Alexander, ''Storm Landings: Epic Amphibious Battles in the Central Pacific'' * 1998 Ivan Musicant, ''Empire by Default: The Spanish–American War and the Dawn of the American Century'' * 1999

Edward L. Beach, Jr. Edward Latimer Beach Jr. (April 20, 1918 – December 1, 2002) was a United States Navy submarine officer and author. During World War II, he participated in the Battle of Midway and 12 combat patrols, earning 10 decorations for gallantry, inclu ...

, ''Salt and Steel: Reflections of a Submariner'' * 2000

Edwin H. Simmons Edwin Howard Simmons (August 25, 1921 – May 5, 2007) was a United States Marine Corps brigadier general. He was a career officer who served in combat during three wars — including landing at Inchon and fighting at the Chosin Reservoir in ...

, ''Dog Company Six'' * 2001 Donald Chisolm, ''Waiting for Dead Men's Shoes: Origins and Development of the U.S. Navy's Officer Personnel System, 1793-1941'' * 2002

Norman Friedman Norman Friedman (born 1946) is an American author, analyst, strategist, and historian. He has written over 30 books and numerous articles on naval and other military matters, has worked for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, and has appeared on tel ...

, ''Seapower As Strategy: Navies and National Interests'' * 2003

, ''On Seas of Glory: Heroic Men, Great Ships, and Epic Battles of the American Navy'' * 2004

James D. Hornfischer James D. Hornfischer (November 18, 1965 – June 2, 2021) was an American literary agent, author, and naval historian. A one-time book editor at the publishing company HarperCollins in New York, Hornfischer was later president of Hornfischer Lit ...

, ''

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors The nonfiction book ''The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour'' is a narrative account of the Battle off Samar, an event which the book's author, James D. Hornfischer, calls the ...

'' * 2005 Michael Walling, ''Bloodstained Sea: The U.S. Coast Guard in the Battle of the Atlantic, 1941-1944'' * 2006

Joseph F. Callo Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

, ''John Paul Jones: America's First Sea Warrior'' * 2007

Ian W. Toll Ian W. Toll (born 1967) is an American author and military historian who lives in New York City. He wrote '' The Pacific War Trilogy'', a three-volume history of the Pacific War. Education Toll graduated from St George's School in Middletown, ...

, '' Six Frigates: Epic History of Founding of the US Navy'' * 2008 George C. Daughan, ''If by Sea: Forging of the US Navy'' * 2009 James L. Nelson, ''George Washington's Secret Navy: How the American Revolution Went to Sea'' * 2010

James Scott James Scott may refer to: Entertainment * James Scott (composer) (1885–1938), African-American ragtime composer * James Scott (director) (born 1941), British filmmaker * James Scott (actor) (born 1979), British television actor * James Scott (Sh ...

, '' The Attack on the Liberty: The Untold Story of Israel's Deadly 1967 Assault on a U.S. Spy Ship'' * 2011 Robert Gandt, ''The Twilight Warriors: The Deadliest Naval Battle of WWII'' * 2012

Elliot Carlson Elliot (also spelled Eliot, Elliotte, Elliott, Eliott and Elyot) is a personal name which can serve as either a surname or a given name. Although the given name has historically been given to males, females have increasingly been given the name ...

, ''Joe Rochefort's War: The Odyssey of the Codebreaker Who Outwitted Yamamoto at Midway'' * 2013

Walter R. Borneman Walter R. Borneman (born January 5, 1952), is an American historian and lawyer. He is the author of well-known popular books on 18th and 19th century United States history. Education He received his B.A. in 1974 from Western State College of ...

, ''The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King — The Five-Star Admirals Who Won the War at Sea'' * 2014 Jack Cheevers, ''Act of War: Lyndon Johnson, North Korea, and the Capture of the Spy Ship Pueblo'' * 2015 Craig L. Symonds, '' Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings'' * 2016 Tim McGrath, ''Give Me a Fast Ship: The Continental Navy and America's Revolution at Sea'' * 2017

Richard Snow Richard F. Snow (born 1947) is an American historian and writer of novels and short stories. Biography Snow is the author of the 1981 novel, ''The Burning'', a fictionalized account of the Hinckley, Minnesota, fire of 1894. His other works inc ...

, '' Iron Dawn: The Monitor, the Merrimack, and the Civil War Sea Battle that Changed History'' * 2018 John F. Wukovits, ''Tin Can Titans: The Heroic Men and Ships of World War II's Most Decorated Navy Destroyer Squadron'' * 2019

Hampton Sides Wade Hampton Sides (born 1962) is an American historian, author and journalist. He is the author of '' Hellhound on His Trail,'' '' Ghost Soldiers,'' '' Blood and Thunder'', ''On Desperate Ground'', and other bestselling works of narrative hist ...

, ''On Desperate Ground: The Marines at The Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle'' * 2020–2021 M. Ernest Marshall, ''Rear Admiral Herbert V. Wiley: A Career in Airships and Battleships'' * 2022 Paul Stillwell, ''Battleship Commander: The Life of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr.'' Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Distinguished Contribution to Naval Literature * Thomas B. Buell, ''The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance''

References

{{Reflist 1983 establishments in the United States Awards established in 1983 American non-fiction literary awards Military literary awards History of the United States Navy